Core Theology

“In essentials unity. In non-essentials liberty. In all things love.” – St. Augustine

We are seeking to live out a thoughtful orthodoxy, committed to unity in essentials, freedom in non-essentials, and love of one another in all things. We are guided by the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Lausanne Covenant as well as by our own contemporary statement:

God

We believe in the one and only living God of the Bible who is one God existing eternally as three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We worship Him alone, the almighty, righteous, triune God who is holy love and reigns over all as Creator, Revealer, Sustainer, Redeemer and Judge.

The Gospel

We believe in the gospel, the good news of what God has done in Jesus Christ, in His incarnation, virgin birth, life, faithfulness, obedience, suffering, death, resurrection, exaltation, sending of the Spirit and future return for the redemption and salvation of the whole world and all creation. Through the fulfillment of the gospel of the kingdom, Jesus now reigns as King of kings and Lord of lords, and will soon come again to consummate His reign and set everything in the universe right in perfect accordance with His will when all the Lord’s people will rule with Him forever. We receive this salvation by God’s grace and mercy alone through our faith in God and His gospel alone. By grace the Holy Spirit regenerates us, we repent and believe and receive the forgiveness of sins and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

Sola Scriptura

We believe that the Bible is the Word of God in human words and our only final authority in all matters of faith and practice. God reveals Himself to us in this Word, especially in our Lord Jesus Christ who comes in the flesh, the ultimate Word and revelation of God.. We rejoice that all truth is God’s truth, and seek to learn all we can from reason, experience, tradition, the church and culture. But all of these sources of truth must always be evaluated and subjected to the teaching of scripture, the authoritative Word of God by which all truth is judged. We are committed to being people under the Word incarnate and the Word written. We accept our call to interpret the Scripture responsibly, devoted to careful and thorough reading of the text and a reliance on the Holy Spirit who inspired the text long ago and now illuminates the text for us today.

The Human Person

We believe that God created all things from nothing, and that all human beings are created by God in His image, the crown of His amazing creation, and therefore of infinite value. The image of God focuses on how we are like God: we are personal beings created for relationships. We also believe that all humans have rebelled against God and are in a fallen state separated from God. Because we are created in the Lord’s image, the Creator God commands humans to steward His creation and create culture. Humans both shape culture and are shaped by the culture they create. All culture, being a creation of fallen humanity, contains both good and evil. Thus, because of both their nature and their culture, all humans experience both the dignity and the depravity of being human, in God’s image, but also fallen. But because the triune God loves humanity so deeply, He initiated the marvelous gospel story and saved us from our sin and separation and reconciled us to Himself. Thus, humanity is dignified, depraved and redeemed.

Transformation

We believe in the life of discipleship for everyone who trusts in Christ for redemption and salvation. Every Christian is called to follow Jesus Christ and learn from Him and live out what He teaches. The faithful disciple of Jesus loves God above all else, and also loves people, both those who follow Jesus Christ and all those who do not yet know Him. As the people of His Kingdom, we are committed to the causes of our King, especially love, mercy, peace, justice and righteousness. Discipleship is all about being transformed by the Holy Spirit into the likeness of Jesus.

The Church

We believe that the church is the one, holy, apostolic, universal people of God. Upon conversion, all followers of Jesus Christ are adopted by the Lord as His sons and daughters and become part of the eternal family of God, the body of Jesus Christ. We are called to love one another, to be united together as was the passion of our Lord’s teaching and to join together to serve the world as part of the King’s mission on earth.

The Mission of God

We believe that God has called each of us as individuals and all of us together as Redeemer Church into His mission to take His love and His good news to all the peoples, nations, tribes, ethnicities and cultures of the world. We gladly, humbly and prayerfully commit ourselves to participating in this mission of God.

To our God alone be all glory!

Our Vision

To make mature, multiethnic disciples of Jesus who love God, one another, and the world.

Our Core Texts

Great Commission

18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20

Great Commandment

36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:36-40

New Commandment

34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34-35

Apprenticeship to Jesus

​“The Church exists for nothing else but to draw men and women into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became man for no other purpose.” – CS Lewis

At Redeemer, we take seriously Jesus’ call to “Go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Apprenticeship to Jesus is not a one time decision, but a lifelong journey of following Jesus as our master-teacher. Since the goal of the Christian life is maturity in Jesus, apprenticeship must be deep and holistic, transforming the spiritual, physical, emotional, social, and vocational parts of men and women. Apprenticeship to Jesus is learning to practice the way of Jesus in our homes, relationships, neighborhoods, and jobs.

We believe Christlikeness is cultivated as we implement spiritual practices, live in community with other believers, and submit to the Word and the Spirit. We agree with Dallas Willard who said, “that the gospel is opposed to earning, not effort.” As we move towards cultivating a life of loving God and people, we trust Christ will mature us into his likeness.

Community

Church is more than just a Sunday morning experience. We believe that when Jesus invites us to follow him, he simultaneously invites us into community with others. The gospel has not only vertically reconciled us to God, but it has horizontally reconciled us to other believers creating a new multiethnic family. Transformation into Jesus happens when we follow him in the context of a loving, authentic community. We desire to cultivate a place where we can regularly do life together with others in order to know and be known.

In Wichita

Jesus has sent us into the world as the Father sent him to proclaim the good news of Jesus and to love our neighbors. As we live and work in Wichita we are called to partner with God to see the Kingdom of God come in Wichita as it is in heaven. Every disciple of Jesus is called to be salt and light in their community.

Gospel-Centered

We are committed to making the whole Gospel of Jesus Christ, with all its indicatives, imperatives, and implications the center of everything we are and everything we do.

Word and Spirit

We believe that the two most incredible resources for our lives as disciples of Jesus are (1) the Word of God and (2) the Spirit of God. We commit to keeping the Word and Spirit together, never separating them or opposing them against each other.

Relational

We are committed to do ministry in the context of loving relationships.

Multiethnic Unity

We are committed to pursuing the unity of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which transcends and breaks down ethnic and cultural barriers. We desire to be a community which reflects what God’s kingdom will look like when Jesus fully and finally reigns.

Emotionally Healthy

We are committed to looking beneath the surface of each of our lives to be holistically transformed by the power of Jesus. Pursuing emotional health is a lifelong journey that includes dealing with your past, a family of origin, narrative scripts, emotions, etc., to love God and our neighbor as ourselves.

Missional

We accept God’s invitation to join Him in His mission to the world. We seek, both individually and corporately, to be in the world but not of the world, and to take both the love of God and the good news of Jesus Christ to those who do not know Him.

Culturally Engaged

We are committed to engage our culture thoughtfully, humbly, and biblically.

Shalom

We are committed to actively seeking justice, righteousness, and human flourishing in our city.

Leadership Dev.

We are committed to investing in and developing leaders of all ages, giftings, and ethnicities for the local church.

Ministry Of Every Believer

We are committed to the biblical truth that every member of Christ’s body has a ministry. We desire to help each person discover their ministry, equipping and encouraging them to live it out for the glory of God.